Emmy Recap: Though the Show May Have Been Blah, the History-Making Choices Were Anything But

in The Media

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Viola

It was literally a hot night at the Microsoft Theater (or whatever they’re calling it these days) in Los Angeles, as temperatures hovered around triple digits for the 67th annual Emmy Awards.

Andy Samberg’s first-time hosting gig was a mixed bag.  His filmed piece about the difficulty of binge-watching the huge volume of quality (and non-quality) TV made a smart point, but his on-stage monologue was painful to watch.  Thankfully, his presence was minimal through the rest of the evening.

But there was drama onstage nonetheless as several Emmy records were shattered, and the evening marked a number of firsts.

  • In an night where winner after winner unfolded their pieces of paper filled with boring thanks to agents, the evening’s best speech by far was by Viola Davis, who won her Emmy for “How To Get Away with Murder,” marking the first time an African-American had ever won the Best Actress trophy.

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.  You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

  • Another record was broken by 71 year-old Jeffrey Tambor who, on his seventh nomination, became the oldest person ever to win Best Comedy Actor for his role in Amazon’s “Transparent” as a transgender mother of three adult children.  He dedicated his award to the transgender community:

“Thank you for your patience.  Thank you for your courage.  Thank you for your stories.”

  • Jon Hamm finally won his first Emmy as Best Drama Actor for “Mad Men” on his 16th (!!!) nomination, eight of which were for the AMC series.  He literally crawled onto the stage and was presented his Emmy by pal Tina Fey, who was instrumental in revealing Hamm’s comedic chops on “30 Rock.”
  • Allison Janney (“Mom”) won her 7th Emmy, tying her with Ed Asner and Mary Tyler Moore as runners-up for the most acting Emmys ever.  Cloris Leachman still leads with 8.
  • Speaking of Ed Anser, Uzo Aduba now becomes the second person (after Asner) and first woman to win an Emmy for the same role in a comedy and drama series.  Asner did it as Lou Grant in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Lou Grant.”  Aduba did it as Crazy Eyes in “Orange is the New Black,” winning last year when the series was considered a comedy and this year as it was reclassified as a drama.
  • It was mostly an evening of favorites winning, but the one big surprise was Regina King‘s victory as Best Supporting Actress for a Limited Series in ABC’s “American Crime.”  King, who played a devout Muslim whose drug-addicted sister is accused of murder, received her award from “Empire” nominee Taraji P. Henson, who was far and away the most enthusiastic cheerleader for the victories by African-American actresses last night.
  • The biggest mark for the record books was achieved by Best Drama Series winner “Game of Thrones,” whose 12 Emmy victories completely obliterated “The West Wing’s” long-standing record of 9 Emmys won by a series in a single season.  In fact, HBO was dominant through the entire evening with Best Comedy winner “Veep” (which snapped “Modern Family’s” streak of 5 consecutive Best Comedy wins), and Best Limited Series winner “Olive Kitteridge,” which also won Best Actor (Richard Jenkins), Actress (Frances McDormand), Supporting Actor (Bill Murray), Writing (Jane Anderson) and Direction (Lisa Cholodenko), with Anderson and Cholodenko as out lesbians, another Emmy first for a team.

Finally, the night’s most emotional moment was the surprise appearance of final presenter Tracy Morgan who walked up to the mic under his own power, a remarkable feat given his near-death experience in a horrifying auto crash last year.  He did reference the crash in his remarks:

“When I finally regained consciousness, I was just ecstatic to learn that I wasn’t the one who messed up.”

One was left wondering whether the old Tracy Morgan was back.

“Only recently have I started to feel like myself again.  Which means a whole lot of y’all women are gonna get pregnant at the after party.”

Well that answers that question.  But it’s great to have him back.

FULL DISCLOSURE:  I am an Emmy voter in the writing branch, and I voted on these awards.  Of course, none of my #1 votes (“Mad Men,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Wolf Hall”) came anywhere close to winning their categories, but I’m used to that.  However the Academy did itself proud with many of its choices on Sunday night, and with those choices, I’m prouder than ever to be a member of that community.